The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had conceded 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Reports that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy on the pitch as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unexpected Presence
At least one man kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this season. He completed last season at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were attempting to extend his stay temporarily. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the nature of the player's talent. Billed as a flank player on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
